Barry Fey, Concert Promoter, Dead At 73

Barry Fey, who spent 30 years promoting concerts in the Denver area, including U2's famous 1983 Red Rocks performance, has died at the age of 73.

The Boulder Journal is reporting that Fey committed suicide via an on-air report by Greg Moody, a Denver entertainment critic and friend of Fey. Fey had been recovering from a recent hip replacement surgery.

Fey started in the business in 1965, promoting concerts in the Chicago area. He moved to Denver two years later to run the Family Dog concert hall, which brought psychedelic acts like Big Brother & the Holding Company and Jimi Hendrix to Denver.

He then started his own company, Feyline Presents, which began booking rock concerts at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre just outside Denver. The U2 concert video, 'Under a Blood Red Sky' was filmed at Red Rocks, and promoted by Fey.

Known throughout the music industry as a colorful character - he billed himself on his Facebook page as the "Rockfather" -- Fey could be notorious in his business dealings. But he also had a generous side, giving money to anti-youth violence campaigns and helping to create the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 1989.

In 2011, Fey wrote his memoir, 'Backstage Past,' which features forwards by Pete Townshend and Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, in which both recalled his personal touch. Fey's relationship with Osbourne began in 1971, when, as Ozzy recalled, he was the first promoter to book Black Sabbath as an opening act for Mountain. Osbourne recalled that, because Sabbath outdrew Mountain, after the tour Fey gave the four members of Black Sabbath a gold watch, which Ozzy still has.